Without seeing the front fenders or interior, you can tell what year Tri-Five this is just by looking at the engine...

People who know me understand I'm a Tri-Five addict. Growing up around the cars, and getting ready to start a '55 project stokes my fires for one of my favorite series of cars ever. They were the cars that reinvigorated Chevrolet and GM, putting them at the forefront of styling and performance.

Check out the picture above. I took the picture so I already know what it's in, but for the layman or someone who doesn't know, this is a '56 265 V-8. how can you tell that just by looking at the engine? Simple, the paint. While the '55 265 was the Chevy Orange we're all accustomed to, all the '56 265s came in a much more red coating of engine paint. When the '57 models came out, the normal Chevy Orange returned, except for the 265 V-8s in '57, they were painted yellow.

I haven't beeb able to find out why all this happened yet, so if you know the story behind the different hue for '56 V-8s, feel free to post it.